3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. 3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out / hollowing out a piece of metal or plastic with for instance a milling machine.

Process followed :

I created a 3D model in Autodesk Fusion 360 for the lower part of our interactive bench project. Model is saved in .stl format and then opened it in Ideamaker for printing purpose. For 3D printing, Raise 3D N2 printer was used. Find below the .stl file for the lower part of the 3D model I printed :

.STL 3D model file for lower part

The 3D printer looks something like below :

Along with the printer the motor also has to be turned on which helps to avoid flames that generates during the printing process. After turning on the printer, do the 'Jog' setting to move the print head to required position. Then 'Focus' has to be adjusted with the joystick in the control panel to adjust the height between the printhead and the material to be cut. Control panel on the printer is as shown below.

After processing in Ideamaker software, the file is copied to a pen drive and connected to the 3D printer. Shown below is the graphical user interface of the 3D printer.

Below is the video attached for the 3D print :

Problems faced :

1. In 3D printing, printer automatically gives autosupports to the hanging parts and a bed for the base of the object. To avoid this, the 3D model is sliced into two parts and printed seperately and joined together.

Thank You!